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Diamond Mine
.: By:
Corn Bread :: Device
used: iPAQ
H3650 :: January 3, 2002 :.
Finally! One of the most popular PDA and
desktop games ever has finally been ported over to the Pocket PC. I’m referring
to none other than Bejeweled, the best
selling PalmOS game, but due to a name change, we Pocket PC users will know this
game as Diamond Mine.
For the uninitiated,
Diamond Mine is a puzzle game
where you score points by swapping any two adjacent gems to form a line of three
or more of the same gems, thereby causing the gems to disappear and a new set of
gems to drop down from above and replace them. With good planning, combos can be
set up this way with the gems dropped from above coming into contact with more
gems of the same colour.
There are 2 variations of this game, the first
being the Easy Game, where you simply play until there are no more
matches to be found. There is a meter bar located at the bottom of the screen
that will slowly fill up as you are able to find matches. When the bar is filled
up, you score will be given a multiplier for more points and the bar will reset
to empty again ready to be filled up again.
The second variation is the Timed Game.
In this game, a time meter is present and will slowly deplete as the game
progresses. The only way to replenish it is to quickly find matches and form
combos. When - or if - you are able to fill up the time meter, you are granted a
score multiplier. In the event that no more matches can be found in a Timed
Game, you are given a new set of gems to start anew, the game only ending once
the time runs out.
As these 2 variations demonstrate,
Diamond Mine can either be a
relaxing title or a hectic, fast-paced game; it's up to you to choose which
style you prefer. A hint button is available in the game to assist you if ever
you are stumped in finding a match. I very much like the subtlety of the hint
button - when you tap on the “?” button, a gem that can be matched will sparkle
ever so slightly.
The graphics in Diamond Mine
have a different look compared to its PalmOS brother, but they are still quite
attractive. The animation is smooth, although I did experience a few slowdowns
when I was able to create a big combo. There is also a random bug where a Timed
Game will end abruptly even though there is clearly some time left on the clock.
This would happen if you tapped the screen more than once simultaneously,
although it only happened rarely.
The sound effects are comparable to the PalmOS
version, which are very good overall, although it’s a shame that there’s no
music and more variety of sound effects like the desktop version. There is a
high score chart within the game but I hope that
Astraware will soon allow us PPC users
to post our high scores on the
Bejeweled website so
we can finally determine who are the better players, Palm users or PPC users.
The controls are straightforward - you use the
stylus to tap the desired gem to be moved and slide or tap it to its desired
position; it's as simple as that. The game also has its own volume control
(limited to sound off/on only) and a pause function so that you can put it down
for a few minutes to do mundane stuff like “eating” and “going to the bathroom”.
And yes, if you hit pause, all of the gems will be hidden as to thwart those
people who plan to cheat in the Timed Game! It’s also very cool the way the game
will auto pause itself and save your progress automatically when you exit the
game while still playing - a very nice touch.
In addition to the card game
King Sol,
Diamond Mine has found a
permanent place in my Pocket PC's valuable RAM space. All of my friends who know
about this game would always borrow my
iPAQ
and drain my batteries playing it. Yes, it really is that addictive! Gamers and
non-gamers alike, I urge you to download the demo version and try it out, just
don’t blame me when your productivity goes down or your batteries go dead from
playing too much Diamond Mine.
I am not exaggerating when I say that
Diamond Mine has all of the
prerequisites of a great puzzle game - the game is simple to pick up (you can
learn to play within seconds), the game is challenging enough to give you a
suitable incentive to play often, and the addictiveness factor is too high to
resist. Plus, it looks and sounds good to boot!
Diamond Mine is available for
all major Pocket PC's, and is sold for $14.95. It needs 540KB of storage RAM and
requires 1.2MB of program memory in order to run.
Pros:
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Simple yet very addictive game mechanics
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Gorgeous, colorful graphics
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Good sound effects
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Efficient hint and pause commands
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An almost perfect conversion of the desktop
game
Cons:
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PocketGamer.org score: |
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.: Game category:
Puzzle Games :: Reviews
Index :.
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